It'll be worth the lost weekend — and, yes, at least one major loose thread left dangling from the end of last season is tied up within the first few minutes of Episode 1.

The First Lady, played by Robin Wright, is not content to work behind the scenes in Season 3 of Netflix's "House of Cards." (David Giesbrecht for Netflix)

For the past two years Underwood, a brilliant but vindictive Washington insider (Spacey), has been diligently weaseling his way into the Oval Office. When he hit road bumps, he flattened them. If someone posed a serious threat, they died.

As a congressman and later as Vice President, Underwood wrestled with many issues, but in the end he was always able to mostly make messes go away — or at least become someone else's headache.

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Now six months into his presidency, Underwood's woes dwarf anything the savvy snake-oil salesman has ever encountered: low approval ratings, a partisan logjam in Congress, Stephen Colbert and most challenging of all: his own wife.

She's no longer content to run interference behind the scenes, and after being his partner in crime for years, First Lady Claire Underwood has her own ambition for high office and she wants the President's support, even if the timing could kneecap his administration.

Wright, who already has won an Emmy for the role, remains one of the best parts of the series, while Underwood's bottomless appetite for dark dealing keeps Spacey so deliciously detestable you can't help but keep rooting for the bad guy to win.